The Facts
Australia's eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant announced Thursday that a legal notice has been sent to Twitter demanding details about how the Elon Musk-owned social media platform enforces its policies concerning hateful conduct.
The company has been told to respond to the regulator within 28 days or potentially face daily fines of up to A$700K (over US$475K) for as long as the alleged breach continues.
The Spin
Narrative A
While moderation is still happening on Twitter, there is plenty of evidence that hate speech is on the rise under Elon Musk's leadership. Neo-Nazi users and QAnon conspiracy theorists have been reinstated on the platform, and there has been an unmatched surge in anti-Semitic tweets and slurs as well as increased activity in accounts affiliated with the Islamic State. This must be urgently addressed.
Narrative B
Media and political elites around the world have long indicated that they would target Elon Musk if he worked to establish Twitter as a free-speech platform and roll back Orwellian content-moderation policies. All this talk about moderating undefinable "hate speech" and tackling misinformation is merely the woke establishment trying to censor those who do not align with its views.
